Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the ongoing land eviction drive in Jammu and Kashmir and said that residents there are getting ‘Bhajpa ka bulldozer’ instead of employment, better business and love. He alleged that the administration is snatching lands away that was irrigated with hard work by the people there for decades.
“Jammu and Kashmir wanted employment, better business and love, but what did they get? Bulldozer of BJP! The land, which the people there irrigated with hard work for many decades, is being snatched from them. Peace and Kashmiriyat will be protected by uniting, not by dividing and dividing people,” he tweeted in Hindi along with a clip of a Hindustan Times news article.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration started the anti-encroachment drive to retrieve government land and over the past three weeks, several buildings have been bulldozed. The drive started after the Supreme Court, on January 20, refused to stay a J&K administration’s circular that directed all deputy commissioners to remove encroachments from government lands by January 31. According to SC order, over 20.46 kanals of government land has been illegally occupied.
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Locals in the Union Territory (UT) are now fearing a possible demolition of their properties as they found their names on an alleged list by J&K administration that was doing rounds on social media. However, the government clarified that it has not issued any list.
Governor Manoj Sinha earlier assured that commoners “won’t be touched” in the drive, however, land grabbed by influential people will be retrieved. So far, lands from former ministers Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Maqbool Dar, Haseeb Drabu, Taj Mohiudin and Ali Mohammad Sager among others have been retreived.
The ongoing land eviction drive stirred protests as locals alleged the government of targetting their properties. Politicians including National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone alleged bias against the community.
